Out and About

-I went to South Korea and I uploaded my photos here, so check them out.
-My dad and his friend Henry came to Japan. Highlights include: astonished school children, plum blossoms, and Universal Studios Japan.
-My penpal came to visit for 2 weeks. Highlights include: sumo, Nagasaki, natural hot springs/"the hells", and climbing a volcano!
-Today I am off to the Philippines for a week, with trips to Bohol's chocolate hills and Boracay.
-3 days after I come back, it's off to Tokyo to pick up my cousin Rachel for a 2 week adventure

photos and proper commentary will follow, once I am home and sans visitors. Honest.

nananana Nagano!

In January I went skiing in Nagano for a weekend. It was nice to see the Japanese Alps, and ski where Olympians have skied. But I did so with considerably less skill.
You can see the switch backs here in the middle--
they were the easiest way down the mountain, and fun.
It felt a bit like playing Mario cart.
Downhill starts! Wooo! Eeek!
None of the people I went skiing with were the same ability as me
(I was pretty much in the middle), so I spent a good amount of time on my own.
Home of the 1998 Olympics, booya! And that yellow building was our hotel.
Great location, but not great customer service
(1000Yen for early check in, and if we could please check in the 7 person room... I don't think so)

Overall a great, but very tiring weekend. We took the nightbus there and back-- I opted for the more expensive and more comfortable one, however the flu that I had caught made just about everything feel miserable. I booked the morning off on Monday, (to recover from the nightbus) but when I got to school, I was quickly ushered to the hospital, diagnosed with "influeza B" (which is the kind of flu that is a terrible cold, terrible terrible) and ordered 5 days of house arrest. Bleh. I am now better! And imunized against that one particular kind of flu. Yea? But Nagano, Yea! for sure.